Nothing As It Seems
by Darkgirl12
Summary: A runaway girl, one teenage boy and a whole lot of problems, both in and outside of the mind.Secrets are revealed and others...not so much. StevenXOC
1. Prologue

Nothing as it seems

Prologue

My life was miserable up until a year ago. My parent's were abusive and alcoholics; if I did one thing wrong I would get shoved inside a closer or go without food for a week or more. Finally, after I had saved up enough money buy working at a local pokemart, I ran away. Walking around Kanto, I was able to level up my Pidgey until she evolved into a Pidgeot so I could fly on her back, to a different region. I know it was a drastic move, but I had to get away. My parent's were also involved with Team Rocket. Flying to Johto wasn't bad, but I had to keep going. Team Rocket had members crawling over the Region. That left Hoenn as the next closest region, and that was over the ocean.

Pideot's wings flapped strongly with the western wind behind us. Up Ahead I could spot the land of Hoenn, dominated by trees at the end I was facing.

"Pidgeot, lets head to the trees, away from people so they don't ask questions." I shouted above the wind. My response was a chirp and then a swerve to the right. Quickly, she sped up and we were landing in the forest, the water behind us. Hopping of I stretched and yawned from the long journey.

"Geot! Pid!"

Startled, I thought we were being attacked until I felt a pecking at the bag on my waist. Looking at her I laughed out loud as she was, for lack of a better word, _glaring _at my little bag.

"Alright, calm down," smiling, I reached inside the bag and got out a berry for her to eat, which she did. "There ya go girl, now let's go and find a pokecenter. You need a good long rest."

Reaching for my belt, I grabbed her ball and summoned her back inside. Glancing around, all I saw was trees.

*Great, I'm lost*

Slowly, I began to walk forward. After a minute more of walking, I stopped.

"Where in all of Articuno am I!" I shouted into the woods.

A few unknown bird-pokemon flew out of the trees. I glared at the ground trying to burn a hole right through it. Didn't go over so well.

"You would be inside the woods surrounding Petalburg city."

Screaming, I jumped around and fell flat on my backside. A man was standing there, around 6' tall and had black hair combed down. His attire was a red jacket with blue jeans with a white stripe up the side of them and then on his feet was a pair of gray boots. I noticed he had a belt with Pokeballs on them; a trainer.

"Who're you?" I asked, standing from my position on the ground.

"The names Norman, gym leader here at Petalburg. I haven't seen you around here. Who're you?" He asked back.

"Ashley, I just moved here from Kanto." I lied, lying was becoming much easier now.

"Ah, a Kanto girl. Welcome to Hoenn then, are you going to participate in the League Challenge?" He asked.

"Oh, I'm not really a trained, and even if I was, I wouldn't be good enough." I hurriedly explained.

"That's not an excuse. Anyone can take the challenge. Trust me, not everyone is great. All you need is a level head and faith in you Pokemon. Now, let's get you back to Petalburg, I'm sure your parent's are worried." Norman said, leading the way to the City.

*My parent's….worried? That has got to be the greatest joke of my life.* I thought, following behind the gym leader.

The woods began to get thinner as we continued walking towards Petalburg city. As the trees began to thin out even more, a city came into view. Then when all the trees vanished, the city came into full view. Petalburg was amazing; little ponds were scattered everywhere, and small houses with brown metal roofs were littered here and there.

"Well, might want to get on home then. Don't want to worry your parent's anymore do you?" The Gym leader asked, walking away.

"No...Bye Norman! Nice meeting you!" I detested my parent's, why would I want to have the feeling of guilt over my head. They're better off with out me.

As Norman left my line of vision, I made my way to the Pokecenter that I could spot and dropped of Pidgeot and asked for a single bedroom. Nurse Joy handed me the key and I went off in search of my room. Once there, I crashed on the bed and fell asleep.


	2. And so it begins

Nothing As It Seems

Chapter 1

It's been a year since I arrived in the woods on the outskirts the city of Petalburg and I'm now seventeen, until three more months, then I'm eighteen. So far since I've been here, I've caught a Ralts and befriended many of the pokemon at Prof. Birch's laboratory in Littleroot; it's a small community with about four houses and the Lab all surrounded by a thick woods. The man I met, Norman has since to become a father figure to me; more a father than my real one that's for sure…

"Ralts! Come on, It's not time to hide!" I shouted, running around the pokecenter room I had spent the night in. I was returning from Littleroot from visiting the Prof. and was currently at the center in Oldale town…looking for my friend.

"Come on, I don't what to play at the moment; we've got to head back." I complained, ducking my head underneath the bed,

"Ralts."

I slammed my head against the wooden frame as I was taken by surprise, a strangled yelp flew from my mouth. Rubbing my head, and muttering a colorful amount of word, I got out from underneath the bed and looked at my Psychic companion. She was rolling on the floor laughing the way pokemon do.

"Oh, be quiet. Where've you been anyways? We should have left an hour ago." I stated, mock glaring at Ralts.

She just cocked her head to the side.

"Never mind, just stay put." I sighed, walking to the bathroom and gathered my things.

Afterwards, I headed downstairs with Ralts hanging off of my shoulder. It was one O'clock when we left the center and headed off towards Petalburg.

"Where'd you go off to?" I questioned.

"Ra Ralts"

"Of course I know what you said." I mumbled sarcastically.

A hand hit me in the back of my head, "Sorry." I apologized. "Ralts, Ra Ralt lts." She grumbled, huffing.

I laughed and continued walking along the path. Around eight, we made it back to Petalburg, tired and covered in dirt from trainers who wanted to battle. I made my way towards the gym; I usually helped train the gym trainers, and because of that, I've spent most of my time there. I used to face the actual challengers, but gave up on that seeing as I wasn't a hired Gym trainer. It just wasn't fair to the kids. I opened the doors and were greeted by the gym trainers congregating in the front part, instead of being in their positions.

"Hey Ashley!" Josh, a trainer with shaggy blonde hair combed back. He wore a white button up shirt with tan dress pants.

"Howdy," I greeted back, "Where's Norman?"

"He's in the back, a challenger came tonight and is battling him." Sara, another trainer answered. She had her Black hair pulled up in a high pony tail, and she wore a tight fighting shirt with a pair of jeans that flared out at the bottom.

`"Alright, Tell him that I got back in case he wonders. I'm going to hit the hay. See ya later." I waved my hand and then turned and exited the gym, heading towards the pokecenter.

Nurse Joy usually let me just have a room as I didn't have the money to pay for rent on an apartment. Getting to the second floor, I pulled out my keys and unlocked the door. Once opened, Ralts jumped from my shoulder and ran into the room and hopped up onto the bed and fell asleep on the pillow. I smiled at the sight and went and got changed from my tank to and jean jacket and jean pants to sweat pant bottoms and a spaghetti strap tank top. I jumped onto the bed and wrapped up in the covers and fell asleep.

They next morning I got up and dressed in a pair of tight fit jeans that flared out and were torn on the knees and a loose T-shirt. I wore flip flops this time of year when I went from place to place. I went down stairs with Ralts and ate breakfast after saying good morning to Nurse Joy. Leaving the clinic; Ralts was sitting on my head, I didn't make it far until I heard my name being shouted out.

"Ashley!" Spinning around, I saw May, Norman's daughter running towards me. She wore her red shirt and shorts with the usual red Bandanna around her hair.

"Something wrong?" I asked, raising my eyebrow when she stopped and panted in front of me.

"Um…well, I was wonder; would you like to come with me to Rustboro?" She asked quickly, so fast I thought about what she said; and It was in that time that I noticed a pokeball in her hands.

"Sure, I loved to go. Now, who do you have in the pokeball?" I asked; May blushed a light shade of red.

"Oh, um…uh…Dad told me that if I wanted to travel and become a trainer, I had to go to Prof. Birch and get a pokemon. So, I, uh, chose Torchic." May hit the white button and a familiar fire red and orange colored bird hopped out and landed on it's one leg.

"Tor!"

"Nice. I've seen this little devil around the lab. Good choice by the way. Actually, they're all good choices." I smiled, "Now Let's go!"

May laughed at my enthusiasm and picked up Torchic in her arms, while following behind me as I went to the Gym so she could tell her dad that she was off. Once there, and he said good luck, and we left and headed towards route 104 Towards Petalburg forest.

"So, are you going to be an actual trainer, or a coordinator?" I struck up a conversation.

"I don't know, either one of them is hard work." She said nervously.

"I'm sure you'll do well with whichever one you choose." I told her, trying to say that Either one would be fine.

"What do you want to do? Are you going to Travel and defeat the Gym leaders or become a coordinator?"

That...surprised me. What was I going to do?


	3. Journey and Training

Nothing as it Seems

Chapter 2

_**What do I want to do?**_

"Ashley? Ashley? Hey!"

I blinked and looked at May, "Yeah?"

"You okay? You zoned out for a while."

"Fine, just thinking." I mumbled, walking through a patch of uncut grass.

"About what?"

"Life, the universe and of course who my husband will be." I joked.

"Oh? And please tell me, who have you thought of?" May asked, using an old accent.

"I see myself alone." May blanched.

"Oh come on, you bound to get a date, become engaged and married. Any man would be a fool for not dating you." May stated, hands on her hips with a disgruntled expression on her face.

"Yeah…Right." I grumbled.

"Stop being so pessimistic! Ralts hit her will you?"

A small hand made contact with my head two times, and I smiled.

"Fine, now what do you want to do? Train or head on to Rustboro?"

"Let's train; I want to make sure that I can handle a challenge if I ever run into a stronger opponent out in the world." May stated confidently.

"Alright, let's head over to the beach and I'll help you train Torchic." I pointed to the nearby beach and began walking over to it.

Once there, I picked up a rock and let Ralts hop down from my head onto the ground so she wouldn't fall of later. I then threw the rock up into the air and caught it. May came over after me and set the fire pokemon on the sand and stepped back a foot or two.

"Alright, when I throw this up I want you to tell Torchic to use ember." I said.

"Got it."

I chucked the rock up into the air as May cried, "Ember!"

Torchic gathered flames in his beak and threw them out….only for them to land a foot away. Both May and I looked pathetically at the fire bird. Torchic sweat dropped at the sand and looked at us for instructions.

"We have a lot of work to do." I stated.

"No kidding," May agreed.

As stated in history, "What goes up, must come back down" happened. The rock I threw up and hit itself square on May's head. She went down and so did I; both for two different reason. May went down from the pain, and I went down because I couldn't stand up because I was laughing so hard.

Hours Later, we had managed to get Torchic to throw it's ember attack, roughly eight feet. It was an improvement. The sun was setting when we packed up our area and began walking on the trail again.

"We can set up an area to spend the night a little ways ahead. If we hadn't have trained, we would be reaching Rustboro in an hour, but since Torchic needed the training, It's a good thing we didn't go on ahead without you prepared. We should make it to the city tomorrow around two. That's alright with me, what about you?" I asked.

"Yeah, I don't care what time we arrive as long as we get there!" May said stretching, and then she went down on her knees, hugging her stomach, "What are we going to eat…by the way?"

I laughed and handed her a bag of Trail mix I had dragged from my bag.

"I always keep it on me. I love the stuff a little too much." I admitted, scratching the back of my head.

"It's food and it's edible. I don't care." May stated, almost tearing open the bag and getting a handful out and eating it.

"Release Torchic, I've got some biscuit's that he'll like." I told her, rummaging through my pack.

A pop and then a chirp came from behind me. I found the paper bag and grabbed a handful of pokefood. Turning around, I scared the Taillows out of the trees because I screamed so loud. Torchic had decided to come, literally, face-to-face with me when I turned around. I could tell he was smirking while may was rolling on the ground, laughing her head off. Growling I shoved Torchic his food which he took and ate greedily.

"It wasn't that funny!" I shouted at the laughing girl.

"I-I'm…..I'm s-sorry!" May continued to laugh, "It w-was just s-so funny! HAHAHAHA!"

"Shut up…"I mumbled, folding my arms and pouting…sort of, "You do know revenge is best served immediately, right?"

Man, I never saw someone go from hysterics to a dead panned look in all of my life that fast. It was scary.

"Fine, I'll stop." She grumbled, eating some more Trail Mix.

"Give me some of that you hog." I grinned, snatching the bag away.

We slowly finished up eating and settled into the sleeping bags that May and I had brought for us. May fell asleep first, with Torchic right beside her head. I didn't fall asleep until I knew May wasn't going to wake up. I stood up, and with Ralts, walked over to the nearby cliff and looked over to the darkened horizon. _Waiting._


	4. Taking the Rocket to the Water

**Nothing as it Seems**

**Chapter 4**

I stood there, just waiting in silence. I watched the waves slowly recede and then come back in and wash over the rocks. The moon and stars glowed brightly and reflected off the water, creating plenty of light for the human eyes. I continued to stare out towards the horizon, waiting for it to come back.

_And it did._

It started out as a speck, darker than anything else around it, then it gradually got bigger and a distant flap of wings came. A grin the size of Victory Road crossed my face as Pidgeot came into view and then landed. He folded his wings as I hugged his neck.

"How've ya been boy?" I asked, stepping away and looking up at him.

His eyes twinkled as he leaned down and nudged my shoulder; telling em he was fine. It was then that I noticed a white, ribbon like cloth tied around his neck. Curious, as is my nature, I undid that ribbon and stared at it in my hands. A soft thump drew my attention to the ground. A rolled up letter tied with black string was lying on the ground next to a black and red pouch with a white drawstring. I picked up both and opened the letter

_Dear Ashley,_

_ I found you Pidgeot outside of the Team Rocket Warehouse and decided to send a letter to you; wherever you are now. I sent along this Dratini as you'll most likely get into trouble, also, I don't think you have caught any new pokemon (Though I may be wrong). I hope wherever you are, you are well and doing fine. _

_ Sincerely,_

_ Lance_

_P.S. You probably don't care, but your parent's have Team Rocket searching for you in Kanto and Johto. They'll soon send out people in Hoenn if you are there. Just giving you a heads up. _

I smiled faintly as I read the letter from my closest friend that I left behind in Kanto. I folded the letter carefully and stored it away in a pocket of my jeans. I then opened the pouch and saw the familiar colors of a standard pokeball. I grabbed it and pushed the white button in the center. A Flash of red light and a screech alerted me to the fact that Lance had indeed sent me a Dratini. Looking at the dragon, I noticed that the dragon was a female and she was an incredibly rare Dratini. Not that they aren't rare already, but the normal blue scales that Dratini's had were gone and replaced my pink ones.

"Dra? Dratini?" The dragon looked at me and cocked her head to the side.

"Thank you Lance," I whispered, smiling at my new pokemon, "Let's get you guys fed."

I reached into my bag and grabbed the brown paper bag. I few each one of my pokemon and then called back Pidgeot and Dratini into their respected pokeballs. I put them into my bag along with the pouch and made my way back with Ralts in my arms as she had fallen asleep. I made it to the area and put Ralts down as I got out my blanket and laid it on the ground. I put Ralts on it and then fell asleep.

The next morning, I woke up to May eating Trail Mix. I opened an eye and looked at her eating.

"What are you doing?"

May almost jumped out of her skin at being caught with one hand in the Trail Mix bag, literally!

"Having Breakfast?"

I laughed at her expression, waking up Ralts in the mean time, and sat up.

"It's alright. Just wanted to see your face." I stated, folding up my blanket and storing it away.

After snatching the bag of Trail Mix away from May, I ate my breakfast and put it away before we took off. Today's journey took us past a house on the edge of the beach. A port was next to in with one ship docked at it. We walked past it and into Petalburg forest, home to pokemon of all sorts.

As we continued to walk along, we ran into a man dressed up in a suit and a tie. He looked like he was searching fro something. He caught sight of us, and, I swear, his eyes widened.

"Excuse me, but have either of you two ladies seen a Shroomish around here?" He asked.

"Sorry, we haven't. But it we see one, we'll tell you…uh...Mr…?" I told him.

"Sorry, my names Harvey."

"Ashley.

"May."

"It was nice to meet you Harvey. We'll let you know if we spot-!"

A man wearing a tattered black and white striped shirt with blue pants ran in front of us. The Blue bandanna with the 'A' made it known who he worked for…

**Team Aqua**


	5. Water strikes back

Nothing as it seems

Chapter 5

The Team Aqua grunt was standing in front of us **glaring** at the man beside May and I.

"Hand them over!" He shouted, holding a pokeball threateningly.

"Hand what over?" I questioned lightly, after all, I didn't want to tick him off anymore than I had to.

"The Devon goods, you moronic girl! Hand them over!" Too late for not ticking him off.

"Why should we?" May argued, fingering Torchic's pokeball.

"May, don't. Team Aqua is ruthless. They're just as bad as Team Rocket and will kill if needed to. If he wants to battle, I'll battle him." I whispered to her.

"Fine," She answered back, a bit burnt out.

"Why? I don't ask questions when I'm given an order by the higher up. So hand over the goods!" The grunt shouted.

"No." I said, walking forward.

"You're going to regret that. Go Poochyena!" The Grunt threw his pokeball and out came the gray wolf pokemon.

"You want to fight? Fine, Go Ralts!" Ralts, who was by my side, jumped to the front of me.

We stared at each other for a moment, and then it began.

"Ralts, use Confusion!"

"Dodge and bite!" The grunt shouted.

Ralts' confusion attack, however, did make contact with Poochyena, sending him flying back four or five feet. Poochyena got back up then and charged forward.

"Quick, Dodge the bite and use confusion again!" I shouted.

Poochyena managed to bite down on Ralts' arm before she could move. She began to glow a faint purple color. When the attack was released, Poochyena flew back and hit a nearby tree, knocking it out.

"Damn, You win this time girl, but I will get those goods." He growled, returned Poochyena and ran off.

"Thank you so much girls," Harvey thanked May and I.

"You're welcome. You might want to go and head back to wherever you work. It's not safe here at the moment as long as you have those goods on you." I told him.

"Alright, and thanks again." Harvey then ran past us and was soon out of sight.

"Well, that was….odd to say the least. Why wouldn't you let me battle him?" May questioned as we continued our walk.

"Team Aqua is very dangerous. You don't want to get involved with them. Plus, Torchic wasn't strong enough to take down a Poocheyena at that level of power." I answered her.

"Then why did you get involved with them?" She asked.

"I'm involved with another team already." I mumbled.

"What did you say?" May asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Forget it. Just focus on becoming a trainer or coordinator. Don't involve yourself with Team Aqua." I told her.

"Okay, Now, how far away is Rustboro?"

"It's a few more miles away still. Don't worry, you won't die from a little more exercise."

"You don't know that…."My companion grumbled.

"Oh, Stop being so pessimistic! Just think, In Rustboro you'll be able to sleep in a warm cozy bed and eat warm hot food- Hey!"

Before I had finished teasing her, May had begun to sprint ahead of me.

"Wait up!" I shouted, taking off after her.

_"Susan to Robert, our target has been spotted. She is heading towards the Hoenn city of Rustboro."_

_ "Good job, Now just tail her, we don't want those two to go and chew us out. Don't lose her!"_

_ "Roger, Susan out."_

_ With a click, the cell phone was put away in the pocket of a black skirt. A woman with brown hair tied in a pony tail wearing a black shirt and skirt grinned from her position on a Fearow. This was going to be easy. _

_**Team Rocket is Back**_


	6. A Curious Face

Nothing As it Seems

Chapter 6

I finally caught up with Man as we reached to edge of Petalburg forest. In front of us was a Flower shop with different flower beds surrounding it.

"I'm going to head inside and check it out. Do you want to come in with me?" May asked.

"No, I'll wait outside."

"Alright." May then headed inside as I went over to a small wild garden off to the side of the road, almost obscure. There was three different types of plants and each bore berries. So I went over to them and picked the berries and watched the plants, literally, collapse.

"Hey! What do you think you're doing?"

I quickly spun around and saw a boy about nine-years-old come at me. He made to punch me, but I avoided it.

"What are you doing I was going to-!" The boy again tried to hit me, but I dodged.

"Do what? You're a Thief!"

"I'm a what! Listen to me, I'm not a thief! Just take a moment to listen to me and I'll tell you what I was doing." The boy calmed down and nodded stiffly.

"Alright, I'm not going to lie and say that I didn't do anything. I picked the berries, but I was going to plant one berry in place of each plant. That way it'll grow and produce more berries." I explained to the boy, kneeling down to his level, "Okay?"

"Alright…I'm sorry that I attacked you. But um…can I…uh…help you plant them?"

"Sure, here take this berry and dig a hole over there, a little to the left. Perfect." O smiled as the boy helped me plant three of the berried. "All done. Now, all we've got to do is water them. Do you know where a Watering can is?"

"Yeah, my sister has one. Let me go and get it." The boy got off of his knees nad ran towards the flower shop.

I stayed on my knees and stared out over the nearby lake that was the only thing from blocking our route to Rustboro. Out on the Bridge were two girls, playing; Some men were sitting on the edges of the lake, fishing poles in hand and were more likely trying to catch a Magikarp. A door slammed open and shut as feet began running towards me.

"Miss! Look out behind you!"

*Behind me?* I spun my head around and saw a man wearing a familiar black uniform with the Red 'R' near the forest edge. When our eyes met, he vanished back into the woods, blending in as if he was never there.

"Hey, are you alright Miss?" The boy asked, holding the watering pail.

"Yes, thank you for yelling out the warning; you most likely saved my life."

"R-r-really? Who was that anyways?"

"An evil man who probably hates me enough to have ended my life."

"Is he…You know…a member of Team Aqua or Magma?"

"No…wait; there are two evil organizations here?" I questioned, surprised.

"Yeah, they surfaced about half a year ago doing robberies and such. So far nothing terribly bad has happened. Thankfully."

"Yeah, thankfully nothing bad has happened." I agreed, "Alright, lets get these berries watered."

The boy, who I found out was named Jared, and I watered the berries just as May exited the store.

"Ashley, what are you doing?" May asked, walking over to Jared and I.

"Just planting some berries. Are you ready to keep going?" I asked getting up off of my knees and brushing off my pants.

"Yeah"

"Ashley, thank you for planting the berries." Jared said, standing up as well.

"You're welcome. I hope to see you again Jared."

"Bye!"

I waved as May and I walked down the dirt path to the lake and crossed the bridge over the lake and we finally made it to the city of Rustboro just as the sun was getting ready to set.

"Finally! I can't wait to fall asleep on a nice, soft bed!" May exclaimed.

I laughed as I followed her to the pokecenter. As we entered I stopped as I got the feeling that I was being watched. Shrugging it off I walked to the counter.

"Nurse Joy?"

"Yes?"

"Could you care for my pokemon later tonight when we come back?"

"Of course, and I'm guessing you would like a room to stay in?"

"Yes, that would be nice." I joked, laughing a bit with Nurse Joy.

Nurse Joy looked behind the counter at the wall where a numerous amount of hooks with keys were located. She picked up the next one in line that wasn't taken and handed it to me, "Alright, here you go Miss. Have a nice time in Rustboro."

I smiled and thanked her as I put the key in my bag pocket and then walked outside where May was already waiting as she had already gotten her room key when I was daydreaming.

"So, where do you want to eat?" I asked her, walking a bit into the sidewalk so we were away from the center.

"I have no idea. How about we eat later and train now?" She suggested.

"Your stomach can handle that?" I teased.

"Of course! It's gone a day without food before!"

"That was because you were grounded and decided to starve yourself so your parent's could un-ground you." I dead panned, "But if you think you could handle it fine, but you're going to need to catch another pokemon. It's not wise to only have one pokemon in your possession. And to catch pokemon, you need pokeballs."

"Yeah, we're going to need some."

"'We'?" I repeated, confused.

"You only have Ralts, so if I'm going to catch a pokemon, you are to." May argued.

"But I – Oh fine, let's go to the pokemart." I sighed, almost forgetting that she has only seen Ralts, and I plan to keep it that way. Speaking of Ralts, she must have gone into her pokeball when I wasn't looking.

May grabbed my hand and, literally, dragged me to the market building. Once inside I bought three pokeballs while May bout five. We paid for them and headed outside. After traveling north, we found a spot that was good enough for both training and catching pokemon.

"Alright, let's catch your pokemon first and then we'll train." I told her, folding my arms.

"What about-?"

"I'll catch one, don't worry. Just focus on catching a new pokemon for your team."

May grumbled and began trudging through the uncut grass. I followed behind her, and almost knocked her over when she stopped so short. I peaked over her shoulder and saw a Taillow pecking at the ground.

"Now what?"

"You've got to battle it and weaken it until it's close to fainting and then throw the pokeball. If you throw a pokeball now it'll break out of it and you just lost a pokeball." I explained, taking a step back.

"Alright, Come out Torchic!"

May threw her pokeball and out popped the familiar fire bird.

"Ember!"


	7. Taillow and Training

Nothing as it seems

Chapter 6

"_Ember!"_

Torchic built up flames in his beak and threw them at the wild Taillow it was currently fighting. The Black and Red bird pokemon was thrown back a few feet and landed on its side near a few overgrown bushes. Slowly the bird got back up on its feet and glared at Torchic. From where I was at, I could almost feel the fire burning in that pair of black eyes. Quickly it spread its wings and flew up in the air and did a circle, then proceeded to fly, incredibly fast might I say, at Torchic; it was going to use its peck attack.

May quickly sprang into action, "Torchic, Dodge and run around its body once it lands to confuse it!"

The fire bird, at the last possible second, dodged the high speed peck attack and began running around in circles once its opponent landed its two feet on the ground. Taillow made sure that Torchic never escaped its vision, which was its down fall in the end. Taillow went in circles to keep track of where Torchic went, and it spun it's self both dizzy and confused.

"Now, Peck!"

Torchic burst forth from its circling madness, and went flying at Taillow, his beak glowing a white color. Torchic plowed in to the wild bird, flinging the bird back in to a nearby tree. It fell to the ground and slowly tried to move enough to get up. It never managed to get up, and May took the opportunity to throw one of the newly bought pokeballs at it while it was down.

"Come on, work…" May prayed, watching intently as the pokeball blinked red three times. Then it stopped. "YES!"

May ran over to the ball and picked it up, dancing in a circle once she got it in her hand. I laughed at the look on Torchic's face as he stalked over to his trainer, before pecking her in the leg.

"Don't forget, Torchic did all the work, you just gave orders." I warned her, walking over, "Congratulations thought."

"Thanks, now since I caught myself a pokemon, you've got to catch one as well." May stated, grinning like the Cheshire cat after it pulled a prank on someone.

The smile I had on my face fell, "Great…"

Soon enough, we were back to searching the ankle high grass for signs of a wild pokemon that I could obtain. Lady luck was not on her side, her brother, Lord Bad luck, was though. After an hour of just searching, I turned to May, "You can head on back to the Center, It's getting late and don't argue with me. I know your father's phone number, after all, he's only a phone call away." I warned when she opened her mouth to protest.

"Fine, but don't stay too much longer. I don't need to find that you got killed by a wild wurmple of something." She grounded out before leaving the grassy area and heading south towards the city.

Once she was out of both sight and hearing, I drug out both Dratini and Pidgeot's pokeballs. Flipping them open, they popped out and called their names at being released. A Grin spread over my features as they came over to me.

"What do you guys say about some training?" The response was a tackle from Dratini and a flap of the wings from Pidgeot; Ralts just stood there, looking at me on the ground with Dratini calling her name, "Alright, Pidgeot and Dratini, think you two can spar against each other while I train Ralts over here?"

They both nodded and went over to a nearby clearing that was surrounded by tall trees and what seemed like a wall of shrubs around it, making it the perfect place for them to train and not be seen at the same time. Ralts came walking over to me and looked up. I smiled and walked over to a clump of trees, far enough away from Pidgeot and Dratini so that I wouldn't get an attack sent my way, yet close enough that I could see if someone was going near their place.

Plopping myself down in front of the trees I faced Ralts with a smirk, "Alright, all you have to do is get me to float up in the air near the branches…while using your physic abilities. No teleporting." I think she wanted to injure me fatally at that moment. She was never good at her physic abilities; it was mostly confusion she was good with, "Think you can manage that?"

"Ralts!" She cried, walking directly in front of me and stared at me.

I challenged her with my eyes as she shone a light blue color; nothing happened to me. The Blue surrounding her body grew to a darker and fiercer blue as she concentrated. Still, nothing happened to me as she continued to glow the blue color.

"Ralts, calm down." I said, worried that she might explode; even though that would never happen, "Alright, try this instead of getting worked up about my comments. Calm your mind and then concentrate on me being lifted up by an invisible force. If that didn't work, then I have no idea what would work."

Ralts visibly calmed down and the blue color disappeared from her body, then she straightened up and once again concentrated. This time, as her body was enveloped in a light blue color, mine did the same. Her small white body shone a darker blue as I was lifted off the ground and towards the tree branches above my head. I grinned as Ralts continued lifting me skyward.

"You've done it Ralts!" I should not have said that, because I broke her concentration. Not the brightest idea I ever had, and falling six feet onto your butt is not fun either. Instead it hurts…a lot.

"Ralts? Ra?" Ralts asked, running over to me as I rubbed the area that broke my fall.

"Nothing's broken. So don't worry." I told her before standing up and stretching slightly, "How about we call it a night and head in?"

"Ralts!"

I laughed at her enthusiasm and reached down and patted the top of her head, "Now let's go and get Pidgeot and Dratini and then head in." Walking over to the clearing, I could still hear them battling against each other.

Entering the clearing through the shrubs, I saw Pidgeot using a Wing Attack against Dratini's Twister that was heading towards the flying pokemon. As the two attacks clashed, they cancelled each other out, causing damage only to the surroundings.

"Dratini! Pidgeot! Come on back here! We're heading in!" I shouted to get their attention.

The two of them quickly came over to me, and while Pidgeot decided to stop right next to me, Dratini tackled me and became a kind of scarf around my neck. Rolling my eyes, I brought both of them back into their balls and was about to put Ralts in to hers, until I caught sight of a tail moving through the untrimmed grass.

"Ready Ralts?" I whispered, getting into a stance that meant business. The tail had a pink color to it.


	8. Skitty and a New Face

Nothing as It seems

Chapter 7

The tail was a pink color as it to move towards continued both Ralts and I. It grew until I reached about the height of my knee. The tail, once it was out of the grass, was attached to the body of a Skitty. The pink feline walked over to me casually, as if it had done this every day of its life. Then, without looking up to see my face, the feline began rubbing its body against my leg. Confused out of my mind, I looked at Ralts to see her expression; Confusion.

"Skitty?" The pink cat called, finally looking up at me and purring.

"Well, hello there." I said, beginning to get over my shock, "Would you like to come along with me little one?"

The Skitty looked up at me for a second longer and then called its name, "Alrighty then." I stated, digging into the bag at my hip and pulling out a pokeball that I had bought earlier in the day. I dropped the ball down on Skitty's head and when the button hit her forehead, she was sucked inside, after a minute of waiting; the ball stopped moving around and just laid there in the grass, waiting for me to pick it up. On the outside, it didn't seem I was pleased with what had just transpired. Inside was a different story all together; I was positively giddy and over joyed that I had caught my second pokemon from the Hoenn region.

I turned to Ralts and got out her pokeball, "Now it's your turn to return. And don't try to get out of it." Ralts folded her arms across her small body and reluctantly let me put her back into the ball. A quick yawn escaped me telling me that my body needs sleep. With that in mind, I started back towards the pokecenter to get some rest. Almost forty-five minutes later, I was walking in the sliding doors that led into the building. At this late of an hour, there was only one person in the lobby, and that was Nurse Joy; behind the desk typing at her Computer. At the sound of the sliding doors opening, she looked up and saw me walking into the Lobby.

"You're either coming in very late or you woke up before I did. I'm guessing the former." Nurse Joy accused.

"The former." I admitted, walking forward to the desk so that I stood in front of her, "What time is it?"

"Around four in the morning at the moment; I'm guessing that you're hungry?"

My mouth didn't answer her, instead my stomach seemingly developed a mind of its own and began rumbling its protests of not being fed. Blood rushed to my face as I rubbed the back of my neck while grinning.

Nurse Joy, I could tell, suppressed a laugh and pointed at a doorway to my left, "The Cafeteria is through that door, its breakfast foods at the moment. I hope you don't mind."

"Its food, I don't care." I told her, "Nurse Joy, I was wondering if you could heal and watch my pokemon while I'm here."

"Of course." She smiled and taking my pokemon that I had been holding in my hands for a bit.

Thanking her, I made my way over to the doors that she had pointed at not that long ago, and opening them, I walked in. There was maybe, thirty round tables littered around the room with about five chairs at each table, most likely during normal hours, it would be packed full of trainers and Coordinators and other such people, but at the moment it was like a ghost town. A cart for a Salad bar stood empty next to a hole in the far right wall. That was where the kitchen was located, and that is where I began walking towards. To me it seemed that there was no one in the Kitchen, though I could hear pots and pans clattering around.

"Hello?" I asked tentatively, I didn't want my head bitten off by angry cook at the moment.

"Yes?" I about jumped out of my skin when a lady with black hair pulled back into a bun under a hair net and wearing an apron over a yellow, button up shirt popped up out of, seemingly, nowhere.

"Oh, um…could I get some breakfast?" I asked, this woman could kill me if provoked!

"Yeah, sure, what do you want? We have cereal, pancakes, eggs – Scrambled and Dippy, omelets, and more." She stated clacking the gum she was chewing on.

"C-cereal please." Man was she intimidating!

"Cheerios, Toasted flakes, Honey Comb, Kix, Apple Jacks, Frosted Flakes, Toasted Rice, Pick your poison."

"Toasted Rice..."

The lady cook glared at me, then pulled a box of cereal from underneath the window and proceeded to slam it down on the table, making me flinch. She grabbed milk, a bowl and spoon and put them on the counter in the same fashion. Again I flinched as she did this. She continued to glare at me as she fixed my food in front of me. When she was done, she pushed it at me, and I quickly grabbed it and walked back to a vacant table at the _other_ side of the Cafeteria. On my way over there, A newspaper stand caught my attention, and walking over, I grabbed the Kanto Regions Paper. Sitting down, I began eating while I laid out the paper in front of the bowl of cereal.

"**TEAM ROCKET IS FALLING BACK!" **

A smile came to my face as I read the headline, maybe Lance was wrong, maybe Team Rocket would just disband and leave me alone. I continued to read the article and how it described the Teams unsuccessful attempt at stealing another powerful pokemon, this time, from an Elite four member. How dumb can these people get? There is a reason that they are in the Elite four! You don't mess with them, Laughing a bit, I turned my attention back to my cereal before it got soggy and began eating it. My eyes were kept trained on the paper, trying to get any other information that I could to see if Lance was right or not.

"Excuse me, but can I sit here?" for the second time today, I about shot out of my skin as I turned my eyes up to see a man, maybe in his early Twenties at the latest with Silver hair and matching eyes look at me. He wore a black suit with purple zig-zags going vertical down the suit jacket. Underneath he wore a white button up dress shirt and a red scarf thing tucked into the white shirt near the base of his neck.

"Yeah, sure." I said, folding the newspaper back up and stuffing it into my bag that I had put on the floor. In the meantime, the man sat down across from me and began to eat.

"So, do you live here in Rustboro, or just passing through?" he asked, looking up to get his answer.

"I traveled here with a friend, she's beginning her journey to either become a trainer or coordinator or both. My name is Ashley by the way." I stated.

"Okay, I'm Steven. So, are you a Trainer?" He continued to ask.

"If you want to call it that, then yes." I responded, eating the last of my breakfast.

"So, you'll be facing Roxanne then."

"Who?" I asked, confused.

"Roxanne, the gym leader here in Rustboro." He answered, looking at me.

"Oh no, I'm not that good. Besides, I'm not challenging the Pokemon League." I said, waving my hands in front of my face.

"Don't say that, You like you're strong with working with your pokemon. Just take on Roxanne, if you win you can continue. If you lose then you can stop, and say you tried. Just take a risk, you never know, you might have fun." He smiled.

"Fine, I'll give it a try. I know I'll lose though." I groaned

"Good, and don't be so pessimistic! You'll do fine, I've known you for a grand total of _maybe_ ten minutes, and I have a feeling that you'll do great. I hope you don't mind me asking, but may I see your pokemon? Just out of pure curiosity."

"Curiosity killed the cat don't you know?"

"Yes, and I believe Satisfaction brought it back."

We laughed as if we were old friends just meeting once again after years of being apart. Getting up we gave our dished back to the cook, who smiled at Steven and then glared at me. She must just hate me for some strange reason. "If you want to see my pokemon, you've got to come with me while I get them from Nurse Joy I just got back from, basically, training all night. So, she has them." I said, successfully hiding a yawn.

"You just got back in? I'm sorry for asking you then, you don't have to show me." Steven began arguing while we went back to the main lobby where Nurse Joy sat, typing at her computer once again.

"No, it's no problem. I'm sure that they would be glad to be introduced to you." I walked then towards the front desk where I had been not too long ago. "Nurse Joy, Can I see my pokemon? Steven here wants to see them" I asked her, hoping she wouldn't become too upset that I was asking her so soon after I came in.

"You'll just be showing him, correct? Not going off and getting absolutely no rest I hope." She seemed to scrutinize me as I stood in her way of sight.

"I'm just going to show him and then come back in and get some rest. Don't worry." I told her, taking my four pokeballs that I had handed her earlier.

"Alright, I'm going to hold you to that." Nurse Joy warned before she went and began typing at her Computer once again.

I then turned around and followed Steven outside to a grassy patch, and I proceeded to let out Ralts and Skitty. As they appeared, they called out their names respectively. Ralts just seemed to stand there and look at Steven while Skitty came over and began rubbing against my legs affectionately.

"Well, I'll say this about them; they certainly look strong enough to up against Roxanne at the moment. How long have you had these two?" Steven questioned, kneeling down to pet Skitty's head.

"Well, I've had Ralts for about a year now, and Skitty, let's see….at the max I would say, and hour and a half."

Steven blanched, "Hour and a half! Bloody Groudon! Your Skitty must have been extremely friendly when you caught her. My pokemon certainly didn't act like that when I caught them. It took mine maybe a week or two before they even allowed me to pet them. You must have the special touch with pokemon." He laughed a little after that and stood back up while I grinned.

"I guess, come on back you two." I pulled back Skitty into her pokeball, but when I went to pull Ralts back into hers, she was gone!

"Ashley…"

I looked at Steven, and there perched on the top of his head was Ralts, looking like she was Queen of the world. I laughed my head off at the sight of her sitting up there with Steven's hair flattened against his head. I pulled her back into the ball after which Steven ruffled his hair to go back to its previous state.

"I'm sorry about that, she usually doesn't do things like that." I apologized, trying to keep my laughter down.

"It's alright," Steven laughed a little, "I'll let you go and get some sleep then, you must be ready to drop dead from sleep. I'll hopefully see you in the future, Goodbye."

"Bye!" I shouted as he was already walking away. I then walked back inside and with a smile to Nurse Joy, went up the stairs to find my room that I had gotten the key to earlier. I found my door on the third floor near the end of the hallway, and taking out the key, I opened the door and walked inside. It was a single bedroom with a Dresser in the corner for longtime residence to put their clothes in and next to the bed was a side table with a lamp on it. In the corner next the door was a wooden desk and on the opposite side of the room was a door that led to the Bathroom. The walls were blue in color and the carpet was a dark brown. The bed was next to the Balcony doors that were a standard for all Pokemon centers in each region. I let out Ralts and Skitty as I threw my bag onto the bed, after putting it on my waist after finished eating. Rummaging through it I picked out a pair of red shorts and a black baggy T-shirt that I changed into after I went into the bathroom and took my shower. I brushed my hair and put it up in a set of braids that would leave my hair wavy in the morning.

Walking out, I saw Ralts and Skitty laying on the bed and carpet respectively; sleeping. I smiled at the scene and put my dirty clothes in a separate part of my bag before crawling under the covers; after making sure I wouldn't kill Ralts in my sleep, and fell asleep.


	9. Curious Shock

Nothing as it seems

Chapter 8

A knocking sound somewhere far off came through my dream like a hot knife cutting through butter. It continued to get louder and louder, until it actually sounded next to my head. Oh, wait a moment. Mumbling incoherent curses, I stumbled out of the nice warm bed and went towards the door where a person was knocking. Throwing the door open, I glared at the person who disturbed my sleep. Unfortunately this person was immune to my glare; May.

"What do you want?" I mumbled, still ticked that my beloved sleep was interrupted.

"Get changed already, you need to catch another pokemon." My junior by seven years told me.

"No. I got inside the center at four in the morning, I didn't get into bed until _maybe_ six. Go Away." I growled, keeping up the glare.

May looked shocked at the information she just gathered from my sleep deprived mouth, "Oh, I didn't know sorry. Why'd you stay out so late? I came in around midnight…"

I dead panned, "You basically ordered me to catch another pokemon; so I caught a Skitty. Now leave." I then shut the door in her face.

"You don't have to be so rude!" May's voice carried through the door.

"Sorry, but nice stopped once my head hit that pillow!" I shouted back at her while crawling underneath the still warm covers and entering Dream land once more.

_***Dream***_

"_Mom, why are you doing this?" A nine-year-old version of me asked, terrified of the woman I called my mother in front of me._

_My mother had ginger hair, just like me, and Icy blue eyes, eyes that I did not inherit. She wore a light shirt with ripped up jeans and flip-flops on her feet._

"_Why? Because you need it. You disobeyed our orders, and if we don't do this then you'll continue to disobey us." Mom said, slurring some of the words together, providing proof that she had been drinking._

_I scooted backwards until my back hit the wall of our cement block basement. I looked around, trying to find a way out, but nothing. Mom followed me, wobbling over until she was directly in front of me. She began raising the broken beer bottle above her head._

"_Please mom, don't do this! I-I won't disobey you or dad again! I promise!" I cried, tears streaming down my face as I tried to negotiate my way out of punishment. _

"_It's too late to beg, you've said that lie to us too many times in the past _ _for that to hold any meaning anymore." With that said, mom brought the broken bottle in her hand down as I screamed._

_***End Dream***_

I woke up, drenched in a cold sweat, causing my hair that had fallen out of its holding to stick to my head. That dream – no – Nightmare, it felt so real; as if I was reliving it. It seemed that I could feel the bottle strike my arms over and over when I had placed them above me for some form of protection. I was gasping as I got out of bed, and then hissed as my right forearm hit the bedside table. I grabbed my forearm, but they let it go as I felt wetness there. Peering at it, my mouth dropped as I saw multiple jagged cuts running up and down the back of the appendage.

"How in the entire world….It was…only a…dream…right?" I asked myself, puzzled to the end of the world.

Still in a daze, I slowly walked over to the bathroom, and opening the door, walked in and to the sink. Taking a washcloth, I managed to clean of the blood and what mess I had made while walking in. Opening a drawer, I grabbed a roll of gauze and slowly wrapped it around my right arm. Once it was well wrapped I cut the gauze and secured it in place.

"Ralts?"

Whipping around, I grabbed at my heart as Ralts appeared in the open doorway.

Sighing, I smiled at the little pokemon, "Oh, it's just you Ralts. Don't scare me like that." Ralts walked forward and gently touched my bare leg asking if I was alright. "Yes, I'm alright, just confused and slightly puzzled."

"Ra-Ralts"

"What is it?" Ralts reached up and tugged at the end of my baggy shirt and seemingly wanted me to follow her. She led the way out of the small bathroom and into the main room. She walked towards the bedside table and pointed at the alarm clock that was positioned there; it was 4:30 P.M. The gym closed at seven.

"Crap!" I grabbed my bag and pulled out what I needed to get ready and zoomed back into the bathroom to change. I came out almost twenty minutes later with my hair straightened till it reached my shoulders where it became wavy until it ended at my mid back. I was sporting a pair of black flip-flops with a pair of light blue baggy jeans. I wore a fitting red tank top with the design on the front of a black dragon. I loved Dragon pokemon, but I don't think I have the Patience or the skill to train six of them. One or two is fine by me.

I ran over to the bed and grabbed my pokeballs and called back Ralts and Skitty and put their balls into the pouch with the rest of them. I packed my clothes into the bag and strapped the bag around my waist before bolting out the door, locking it, and running down the stairs. It was around five now, So I had to hurry before I was too late to battle Roxanne.

"Bye Nurse Joy!" I shouted before running out of the center and north towards the gym. After running for multiple blocks, I slowed down once I was in sight of the gym doors. I caught my breath as I neared the doors. Pausing, I looked up and took a deep breath.

"Well, here goes nothing." I muttered before entering the doors to challenge the gym leader.


	10. Don't you Just Love Sarcasm?

Nothing as it Seems

Chapter 9

Inside the gym, rocks were almost growing from the ground as I walked through the doors. I could spot multiple trainers waiting behind the rocks to battle unsuspecting rookie trainers. Thank goodness I wasn't a rookie. I saw an alternative path and took that one, which was empty of trainers. I continued walking down it and saw that it led right to the gym leader, Roxanne. She was dressed in a gray colored dress with red leggings and a pair of dark colored shoes. Her dark hair was pulled up into two ponytails with pink colored ribbons. As I walked towards her, she finally spotted me and smiled.

"Hello there, you're a challenger, correct?" The leader asked

"Yep, I wanted to get here before the gym closed." I explained to her.

"That's fine. Richard we have a challenger!" Roxanne shouted.

A man came out of the side door wearing the standard white and black stripped shirt of a ref and a pair of black dress type pants. In his hands were two flags, a red and a green. This, as I take it, was Richard.

"Alright, this will be a two-on-two battle with Roxanne unable to switch out any of her pokemon, while the Challenger may." Richard explained, "GO!"

"Come on out Ralts!"

"Geodude!"

I calmly walked out of the gym; a new badge on my person. The lamps lining the streets were turned on as the sun was beginning to disappear on the horizon.

"Hey Ashley!"

Turning around, I saw a familiar girl with a bandanna running towards me. May finally slowed down when she reached me.

"So, has the 'nice' returned?" She joked.

I forced my face to become stone cold, "'Nice'? I've never heard of such a vulgar word before." My 'stone cold' face cracked into a smile as I laughed. Our feet decided to lead us to the pokecenter without consulting us, though we didn't care.

"What've you been doing today while I slept away most of the day?" I asked her, shoving my hands into my pockets.

"Well, I was training Torchic and Taillow and decided to explore around the city a bit. I was going to challenge Roxanne about half an hour ago, but someone was already facing her. So I'm going to face her tomorrow."

"Ah, that person would have been me." I admitted sheepishly.

"What! How'd you do? Did you win or lose?" She blabbered.

"Whoa, calm down and breathe. I did alright-"

"Don't tell me you lost!"

I shot her a look out of the corner of my eye, secretly telling her to wait a moment, "Don't jump to conclusions just yet. I did win-!"

"Congrats!" May shouted, giving me a quick hug, I stiffened at the contact, "Oh, sorry, I forgot." She apologized while smiling.

"Fine, it's fine. Do you know what time it is" I asked her, changing the subject.

"It's…almost seven. Why?" She told me.

"Can't a human be curious?"

May deadpanned, "No, it is forbidden."

"Whatever, I'm going to heal my pokemon then go and train Ralts and Skitty."

"Skitty?" May asked.

"…I told you I caught a new pokemon didn't I?"

May looked puzzled as she began to think back. Then it clicked.

"Right! You told me when you were going to bed. Sorry about that by the way."

"Whatever, now I'm going to leave after this. Think you can manage your journey on your own?" I asked, hoping she would be able to actually make it around Hoenn without me.

"Of course!" May puffed out her chest; then I poked her side. She deflated after jumping a bit, then she slapped my shoulder. We reached the pokecenter a little bit after that and we walked in, we both handed out pokemon over to Nurse Joy. "Well, I'll be seeing you around Hoenn then May don't cause too much trouble out there." I teased.

"I should be telling you the same thing." May shot back.

"True, so true," I agreed, smiling wide. She then disappeared up the stairs to get to her room while I headed to the Cafeteria and the scary cook, after I told Nurse Joy that I would pick up my pokemon after I had something to eat. Walking inside the big room, it defiantly had a lot more people inside the room, eating or just talking with other trainers. I walked over to the hole where I had met my foe earlier this morning, and I saw it was a different cook, thank goodness. For Dinner I got a BIG Slice of Lasagna, it's my favorite. On the side I had potato wedges and a glass of Lemonade. I then walked over to one of the far open tables in the room and sat down after taking a newspaper and unsnapping my bag so I could lay it on the floor.

I flipped the newspaper over and all I saw was: **"STEVEN STONE NAMED STRONGEST TRAINER OF THE YEAR!" **Underneath that was a picture of the silver haired trainer that I had met in this Cafeteria. There wasn't much to the article, but I found out that he was up there in the ranks. I folded the paper under my arm and then threw away my trash. The cook from earlier was still glaring at me and it was beginning to creep me out. I didn't do anything to her! I almost ran out of the cafeteria and to the front desk where Nurse Joy still was.

"Nurse Joy, may I have my pokemon back?"

"Oh yes, here you go and I hope to see you again." Taking my pokeballs that she handed me, I walked out the doors and then stopped once I was walking north. 'Did she just wish me harm?' Confused, I decided I would ignore that and continued walking north to the area I had been training in earlier.

"Come on out -"

A shout of surprise came from down the path I had just vacated. I turned my head to look down the path and managed to see two figures running my way; one of them was clearly gaining the upper hand and stretching the distance between them. In no time at all, they were at a minimum of seven yards away from me. One was a member of Team Aqua and the other was the man that had been in Petalburg forest not too long ago.

"Move out of the way, Bitch!" The grunt shouted, shoving me to the ground once he passed by. I landed hard on my backside.

"Stop! Wait!" The man, Harvey, shouted, and stopped to try and catch his breath. Harvey looked at me and recognition filled his eyes. "Ashley! Could you please help me? That man stole the Devon Goods that I was carrying a while back."

"You don't have to ask, I'll get them back for you." I then got back up and took off after the grunt, "Dang Bastard" I swore, referring to the Grunt. While I was running, I released Skitty and allowed her to run with me. Along the way, I passed by multiple trainers who were heading back towards the city for a good night's rest. I ignored them and continued running eastward in hope of catching the grunt before I would lose him for good. Soon enough a building, a house in reality, came into my vision with the suns final rays at my back. To the right side of the house was a mountain with a gaping mouth as the entrance to a cave that looked to be man-made. By the mouth of the cave was an elderly man in a black suit and a gray shirt underneath. He was balding and the creases on his face were more defined as it seemed he was worried about something.

"Sir? Are you alright?" I asked him, coming to a stop from my full blown sprint here.

"Oh Lass, My Peeko was just pokenapped from me!" He was wringing his hands to further the impression that he was worried.

"Peeko?" I questioned, uncertain if he was referring to a pokemon or…something else.

"My Wingull! A member of Team Aqua came by and just snatched my poor Peeko off!" He explained.

"Alright, I'll…go get your…Peeko for you then." Before he could say another thing, I had sidestepped him and ran into the cave which was slowly losing its light from the sun. Skitty walked in front of me, to assume her protector duties I assumed. Curses bounced off the walls as we walked up an incline and then turned a sharp right down a long pathway. The Curses got louder as we continued. I raised an eyebrow at Skitty, who had stopped in front of me to look at me and cock her head to the side. Up ahead, I could see something moving in the dim light, and walking forward, I saw it was the Team Aqua grunt. I grinned and quietly made my way towards him, being careful to not make a sound.

Soon I was right behind him and, putting a hand on my hip I spoke, "You know, cursing the world isn't going to make it get any better for you." I most likely wore a smug expression; I could feel my sarcastic side coming out now.

The Aqua grunt jumped nearly a foot in the air before turning around to look at me. Under his left arm was the stolen Devon goods and in his hand on the left side was a Wingull, trying to claw his hand to shreds to escape his tight grasp.

"How the hell did you get in here, ya bitch?" He shouted, causing it to echo around the walls.

"Walked in; how else?"

"Shut it Bitch, you're going to wish you never came in here." He growled grabbing a pokeball from his belt with his right hand.

"Somehow, I don't think so." Sometimes I used sarcasm a little to much…

"Go Poochyena!"

…like now.


	11. Arranged Meeting

Nothing As It Seems

Chapter 10

_"Go, Poochyena!"_

As the grunt threw the pokeball, a black and gray wolf came flying out at Skitty and I, growling and baring its teeth.

"Get ready Skitty" I whispered as she stepped forward to battle.

"You just won't give up will you?" I growled, "Skitty, Quick attack!"

Darting forward at lightning speed, she slammed all her weight into her opponent. "Bite!" Poochyena, as soon as it had been hit, clamped on to the scruff of Skitty's neck and bite down hard. Her cry reached me from across the battle field.

"Scratch and then Quick attack again!" I shouted, worried about the safety of my pokemon.

Bringing her clawed hand up, Skitty swiped it across Poochyena's face, leaving five angry red marks, and causing it to release her in sudden pain. Poochyena left an opening perfect enough for Skitty to come and slam into it once again. In a flash she was by side, albeit she was panting extremely hard.

"Can you continue?" I asked her, kneeling down to her level. My response was a lick on my hand and then a meow. Growling was coming from the grunt's Poochyena as it glared at us.

"Poochyena, howl and follow up bite!" The grunt was ticked off royally.

"Skitty, Dodge the bite and tackle!" I yelled as she began moving away from the incoming wolf.

Unfortunately, Skitty didn't make it out of harm's way in time and had her back left leg bitten into, causing her to cry out. Somehow, in that position, she was able to tackle her adversary and knocked it clean off of her and into the rock wall, creating a small avalanche of rocks to come piling onto the pokemon. The Avalanche was the last straw to knocking out the Poochyena.

"You win this time bitch," The Team aqua grunt growled out, recalling his fallen pokemon. He dropped the Devon Goods and the injured pokemon, and then as he was running past me, he once again shoved me down. He then vanished out of the cave. Carefully, I picked myself up off the ground and walked over to the good and injured pokemon. I stored the goods in my pack and reached for the Wingull. But once I got in about a couple inches of it, the Wingull decided it didn't like me and pecked me.

"Ouch! I'm not going to hurt you, I'm not like that Aqua grunt. You'll be with your owner soon. Alright, I just want to help you." I calmly said, trying to pick it up again. The bird finally let me pick it up and I cradled it in my arms as I turned and began walking towards the entrance of the cave. Soon I made it out of the cave and into the moonlight that had overpowered the sun while I was inside. The man by the entrance came rushing over.

"My dear! You've saved my dear Peeko! Thank you. Come to my house by the sea and I'll pay you back!" While he had been talking I handed him back his injured companion, he now began walking away.

Once he was out of hearing range, I turned to Skitty, "That was weird" She bobbed her head in agreement and then walked back towards Rustboro with the Goods. Walking back was weird, it seemed as though the each shadow would like to come up to me and try and pull me into it while trying to either kill me or scare me. We reached the spot I had wanted to train in and saw Harvey was there, waiting there.

"Ashley, I'm glad you're alright! Did you…by chance -"

"Here ya go," I cut him off by handing him the Goods.

"Thank you! Oh, Thank you! Would you mind if you could meet me in front of the Devon Corp building tomorrow at eleven. My boss wishes to meet you after what I told him before all this happened."

"I'll try, and it's no problem. Have a nice rest of the night." I smiled and waved as I decided that it was beginning to get too late to train with everything happening. I walked southwards towards the Pokecenter. Once inside, I handed my pokemon to Nurse Joy after recalling Skitty who was tiring quickly after walking back here with me. Nurse Joy looked at me strongly, as I began walking up to the second story and then down the hallway. Arriving at the door to my room I unlocked it with the key and walked in, locking it behind me. I didn't bother to change and just crashed on the bed. I was out faster than a light.


	12. Skyscraper meetings

Chapter 11

When I woke up the next morning, it was around Nine-thirty, which I thought was nothing until the memories of the previous night came back. Now _that_ caused me to jump out of bed and dash to the bathroom, the door slamming shut behind me. Forty-five minutes later, I came out of the bathroom after taking a shower, putting my hair up into a ponytail. My attire for the day was a pair of flip-flops, my favorite pair of dark blue denim jeans that flared at the bottom and a white tank under a jean jacket. I looked at the clock on my night stand and my eyes widened. It was 10:15! I had less than 45 minutes to get to Devon Corp. that is if I knew where the building was, which I didn't.

So I quickly ran downstairs, got a pop tart for my breakfast on the go and then collected my pokemon from Nurse Joy. Just as I was about to leave the pokecenter doors, I stopped in my tracks. Nurse Joy! I spun around and returned to the counter where Nurse Joy had just looked up from her papers.

"Yes?" She smiled, looking at me. I burned under her gaze, feeling like a four year old child asking for a candy bar.

"Um…I'm not from around here and I was wondering if you knew where Devon Corp. was…." I said, grinning sheepishly, rubbing my hand on my neck.

"Sure, you just turn left and head to the road. You head back towards the Gym and Devon Corp. is right across the road to it." She smiled, as I stared at her.

"Is it a skyscraper?" I asked, though I knew the answer already.

"Yes."

"I am blind." I declared, shaking my head. "Thanks!" I then took off out the doors and down the street back towards the Pokemon gym. Coming up to the gym I looked across the street and spotted the towering brown building that I somehow didn't connect with being the Devon Corp. building. I walked across the street after making sure that I wouldn't get hit and walked in to the front…cement yard of the building. I spotted Harvey by the front doors, most likely waiting for me to get there.

"Ashley!" Harvey called from his position, waving his hand in the air. I ran the rest of the way to him, afraid that if I walked I would be even later. And I know that Head people of companies did NOT like being kept waiting.

"I'm sorry Harvey, I got lost." I said simply, smiling a little.

"It' alright, you're here now, so let's get going." He said simply, waving me to follow him into the building.

We walked inside and I began looking around like I was a kid in a candy store. I had never been in a building like this before; the Secretary's desk was at the back wall, right in front of the doors so that whoever was working would be able to see who was coming and going. Some trees littered the floor in a few corners with a few couches so that people could wait until they were called on for a meeting or until their shift started. Then over on the far right I saw a stair case that led both up and down. An Elevator was on our immediate left. We went towards the stairs.

Harvey led the way as we walked up the set of stairs, and then we came to a door. The Door had the sign 'Lab 1' marked on it. We walked right on in, and I got a sight of what Devon Corp. was making at the moment. Harvey was leading me through the throng of scientists and lab assistants as I looked at the machines. One of the machines that caught my interest was one that was in the back corner nearest to the staircase that we had just vacated. It was a tall machine that had wires everywhere, but a platform was in the center of the contraption with an amber dome that seemed to cover it. That was as much as I could study it before we walked up another set of stairs, and this time we came to a plat form that had the sign 'Mr. Stone' written on it.

"Alright, you're going to have to wait here a minute so that I can tell Mr. Stone that you're here." Harvey said as he opened the door quietly. I stood out on the platform for what seemed like a minute or two, studying my shoes and the underside of the stairs that led to higher levels of the building, before Harvey came back and said I was allowed in.

"Good Luck, He said to me before he closed the door. I quickly swallowed my nerves and looked around quickly. It was a rather large office with couches and a desk with a few display cases with special stones in them. That was about as much as I got in before I walked up to the desk where Mr. Stone sat.

"Mr. Stone?" I asked hesitantly.

The man looked up from the paper that he was signing and smiled, "Ah, you must be Ashley that I heard about. From what I gather, you've been a real help to Harvey and I, with the Goods I mean of course. So I thank you for what you did." He said smiling at me.

"Oh, it was no problem, sir." I replied, probably just making the whole thing with Team Aqua seem like a simple Lost and found reward for a puppy.

"From what it seems to me, it is a problem with Team Aqua now. And I am sorry that you had to get involved with the matters. You don't need to deal with them-"

"It's alright Sir, I moved here from Kanto, so I'm used to Terrorist groups." I said, putting the whole situation lightly.

"That may be so but still….you shouldn't have been involved. Though What I'm going to ask of you is going to make me seem like a hypocrite." He said, looking over to the side before glancing back at me.

"And that would be…?" I asked, wanting to know what he wanted me to do.

"Well, I was wondering if you could deliver these Goods for me, as It seems that none of my Staff can do it as Team Aqua has managed to steal them from them already. The Goods belong to Captain Stern in Slateport by the way. That is of course, if you want to deliver them."

"Of Course. It wouldn't be a problem." I said, after all it's not like I have a curfew.

"Great, and also, along the way, I was wondering if you could drop this letter off in Dewford."

"No that's fine, I'm challenging the gym leaders now, and I guess the next one is in Dewford, so that was going to be my next stop anyway." I told him.

"Thank you so much. And, I hope this will do for all the troubles that we have caused you." Mr. Stone said, pulling out one of his drawers and taking hold of a blue colored electronic device. A Pokenav.

"Oh, you don't have to pay me any-" I began to say, only to get cut off.

"I Insist, you're doing both me and the company a huge favor, and I won't take it back. Plus you may need it later. I want you to call me when you get both the package and the letter delivered so that I won't be having my hair turning white on me." He joked; I gave a small laugh before pocketing the Pokenav, letter, and the Goods in my bag that was on my hip.

"Thank you for the Pokenav, sir" I said, smiling after looking back up at him.

"Don't thank me, as I just said, you're doing us a huge favor. And you don't have to call me 'sir', I feel older than I am when you say that." He grinned, causing me to laugh again before I said goodbye and left. I soon followed the path that Harvey and I had made and left the building all together. The Sun was directly above me, signaling it to me that it was noon.

"Ashley!"

At my name being called, I saw May over on the sidewalk, waving to me to head over to her. So, just to irk her, I walked over at a slow pace. She seemed ready to explode when I finally stood right beside her.

"You rang?" I drawled, raising an eyebrow.

"Guess what! Guess what!" She almost screeched as she bounced up and down, an face splitting Grin stretched wide on her face.

"I would guess that you had roughly six bottles of Five hour energy, but I feel that that's nowhere near the correct answer. So tell me what's up." I said.

"I got my first badge!" She all but screamed.

I blinked a little and then slapped my ear for a bit, "I'm sorry, could you say that…oh I don't know…a little bit LOUDER!" I shouted at her sarcastically, shaking my head to get the bells out of it.

"Sorry, I didn't think that it would come out that loud." She smiled sheepishly.

"Anyway, congrats on the win. You're a step closer at becoming a champion. That is of course, if you want to become one." I Said as I saw May look away slightly at the mention of becoming a trainer.

"I don't know what I want to be really."

"That's fine, no one should have to plan out their career at 11 or 12 years old." I said, starting to walk down the street with May walking slightly behind me. It became silent between us, but that was fine as it wasn't an awkward silence. Soon enough we were walking through the double sliding doors of the pokecenter. May headed towards the Front Desk to hand over her pokemon while I went to a couch and table to write a quick letter.

After finishing said letter, I got up and stretched my back before walking to the counter and taking out my room keys, "Nurse Joy?"

The nurse looked up from behind a pile of papers that probably needed a signature, "Yes?"

"I'm leaving today, so I'm returning my key if that's alright." I said, handing over the key.

"but don't you need to get your things from the room?" She asked, puzzled as she held the keys in her hand.

"Nope, I have everything already with me." I told her.


	13. Holy Fearow!

Chapter 12

Holy Moltres!

After I left the pokecenter, I began making my way south so I could get to Dewford soon and deliver the letter that was burning a hole in my pocket. I got this weird feeling that the letter had quite a level of importance with it. Though that might have been because a _president _of a _famous_ company wanted me to deliver the letter to someone. I stopped heading south though when I heard a familiar voice shout out a command. Walking forwards I saw May battling a familiar black haired teen.

"Combusken use peck!" May shouted as her pokemon went in and dealt the finishing blow to Brendan's Marshstomp. May began jumping up and down with Combusken as I laughed and clapped for both the winner and the loser.

"Hey May, Brendan. How're you and your parent's doing since I last saw you?" I said, my last question directed to the boy.

"Oh, Mom and I are fine. Dad's still trying to do more than he possibly can, but that's just how he is." Brendan grumbled.

"Don't complain. You wouldn't want your dad to suddenly change now would you?" I said, looking at him.

"No,"

"That's what I thought. Now May, I'm leaving. I think that you're set to go now. Remember that house that we passed on the way over to the forest? I want you to take this letter to the man that lives in the house and tell him that it's from me ok? He should be able to get you a ride to Dewford if you want." I told her briefly before handing her the note and taking my leave of both teenagers.

Soon I was walking away from the two of them and heading towards the woods. As I looked around, I took notice of how the people that were here earlier were gone. I smiled, but kept walking; I still didn't want anyone knowing who I had in my arsenal. So I walked into the forest and quickly got off the path and walked through the brambles and thorns and trees. I made it to the cliff edge in half an hour and looked around. I couldn't be too cautious. I then drew an old and worn pokeball out and threw it in the air, letting it pop open before catching it.

"Pidgeot!"

"Hey Girl, I though you could use some exercise. How about flying across the ocean again?" Here she gave me a look that clearly said 'How Far'. I laughed at her face. "Don't worry, we're not leaving Hoenn waters. We're heading towards an island south of here by the name of Dewford. Think you can pull it off?"

Pidgeot brought her head down and pecked me on the lead lightly, causing me to laugh at her and then swat at her head. "Alright sorry, I didn't mean to insult you stamina by any means."

She puffed out her feathers, but still bent down so that I could easily climb on her back. I fisted my hand in her feathers as she flapped her wings a few times to get the feel of flying and then took off. I looked down and saw the Forest, then a few people and finally the Beach before all that was under us was open water with a bunch of rocks jutting out. I laughed and looked around. I then saw an island off to my right that held about six large stones, all surrounding a larger rock that was about two stories high. Must have been a cave or something. Pidgeot squawked and I laughed.

"Familiar feeling isn't it!" I joked, laughing as Pidgeot dived and then came back up, clearly enjoying herself. I stopped laughing when a bolt of lightning flew by my head. Pidgeot screeched and swerved out of the way. I whipped my head around and saw two large Fearows following us. One of them was holding a Raichu and the other was carrying two people dressed in black with Red 'R's on their uniforms. _ Team Rocket_

"Pidgeot! It's Team Rocket!" And with no other words said, she sped up and bolted towards the land that was beginning to form on the Horizon. I was forced to lean over her neck so I wouldn't be blown off and then land in the freezing water below.

"There's Dewford! Hurry! AH!" Another series of lightning bolts blew past us, causing us to swerve and duck. I took the chance of looking back, and it seemed as if they were gaining on us. Soon the land was under us.

"Land! Pidgeot Land near the cave. I may be able to lose them in there!" I shouted above the wind as we dived down. When we landed, I jumped off and called her back into her pokeball before running into the cave, almost running into a man who was standing in front of me, but I dodged him and kept going. I ran and ran until I saw what appeared to me as my savior. It was a ledge that was roughly six feet off the ground. So, seeing as it was either jump or die, I took a running leap and just barely got my finger to grab on to it.

Huffing and Puffing, along with flailing my legs and groaning, I managed to maneuver my way up on the ledge, that was maybe four feet and was dug out a bit so that I could hide partially in the wall itself so I would not be seen. I took deep breaths to calm my racing heart and burning lungs, I then stayed alert for roughly ten minutes, but no one ever went by my hide away and I didn't hear any noises. I let out a sigh and sank against the rock wall behind me.

Then a though hit me. I didn't know who I was to deliver the letter to! I frantically checked my pockets and back pockets, but it wasn't there. I began to Panic. Where did I put it? I then began to breathe deeply. 'Okay, no time for panicking. Just try and remember where you put the letter.' Then it clicked, I smiled and brought my bag around and dug into a side pocket where I had put the Pokenav earlier and grabbed at a corner of white paper. I laughed to myself at my stupidity, before pulling it out and smoothing out the creases. I then stared at the front of the envelope as I saw the scribbles on it.

_Steven Stone_


End file.
